Savannah's Organic Ranch: Sustaining a dream

Joe and Lisa Sachen stand on the proposed site of Savannah's Organic Ranch in Aliso Viejo on Wednesday, Aug. 14. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

Joe and Lisa Sachen stand on the proposed site of Savannah's Organic Ranch in Aliso Viejo on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. The community organic garden and outdoor recreation area will be built in memory of their 8-year-old daughter, Savannah, who died of a rare heart tumor in 2007. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

Joe Sachen, points out different parts of the property where he and his wife Lisa plan to build farms, parking lots and other facilities for Savannah's Organic Ranch on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

Joe Sachen helps his wife, Lisa, down a trail at the proposed site of Savannah's Organic Ranch, a large-scale community garden and outdoor recreation facility they want to build in honor of their 8-year-old daughter who died of a rare heart tumor in 2007. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

Joe Sachen, left, speaks to Canyon Vista Elementary School custodian Jon Bones as he waters plants in an organic garden at the school dedicated to Sachen's daughter, Savannah, on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

Savannah's Organic Ranch is proposed to be a 26-acre community organic garden and outdoor recreation area in Aliso Viejo. The Sachens are currently in the process of seeking funding to build the ranch. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Joe and Lisa Sachen stand on the proposed site of Savannah's Organic Ranch in Aliso Viejo on Wednesday, Aug. 14. JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

As Joe and Lisa Sachen visited the first garden their nonprofit established at an Aliso Viejo elementary school, a hummingbird whizzed among the raised barrels, flitting between massive tomato plants and dew-speckled flowers.

“Look!” Lisa yelled. “A hummingbird!”

The tiny bird's visit convinces Lisa, an Aliso Viejo resident, that the Sachens' daughter Savannah is still close by. Days after the 8-year-old died in 2007 from a rare heart tumor, Lisa said a hummingbird hovered right in front of her face, looking straight at her. The birds became a sign to her.

“It's almost her way of saying, ‘Look, I'm still around,'” Lisa Sachen said as she walked along trails cutting through what she and her husband hope to be a $10 million dream ranch project where people in Aliso Viejo and beyond can learn about organic farming and gardening.

Savannah always dreamed of having a small garden where she could grow organic foods and teach her friends about the benefits of healthy eating, Joe said.

Her dream has evolved into plans for a 24-acre ranch off Wood Canyon Drive with community gardens, sustainability exhibits and a network of trails that would connect to Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park.

But getting this project off the ground has been more challenging than they expected, and a recent car accident left Joe unsure he would live to see the plans become a reality.

CONTINUAL SETBACKS

That's not the first time tragedy has struck the Sachens as they try to build Savannah's Organic Ranch.

Years ago, as the nonprofit worked to craft a possible lease with the Aliso Viejo Community Association for the ranch property, the attorney and close personal friend they were working with died, Joe said.

Lisa suffered a brain hemorrhage three days before the nonprofit's golf tournament three years ago, she said.

This year's accident struck when the nonprofit was finalizing environmental work vital to getting the project off the ground.

In May, a head-on collision off Ortega Highway left Joe Sachen in the hospital for a week.

The nonprofit's annual golf tournament, their main source of funding, was canceled following the accident. Now, with diminished financial capabilities, Savannah's Organic Ranch needs more funding to get the project off the ground, Joe said.

“I feel really lucky to even be here right now,” he said during an AVCA board meeting in August to give an update on the ranch project.

But the Sachens are looking elsewhere for funding as they continue their work.

“We took a hit there and we really have to build up our resources,” Lisa said. “The capital campaign is what we're really focused on now.”

Without the ranch, the Sachens still provide other services to the community.

The family established the Savannah's Organic Ranch nonprofit to help children and families with pediatric cancer. Today, the nonprofit provides DVD players to children in the hospital, wheels portable Nintendo Wii carts to children too sick to visit the playroom, and has established several gardens in schools throughout Southern California to teach people about the benefits of organic foods.

GETTING TO WORK

The Sachens' simple plan to carve out a small plot for their daughter transformed when former Councilman Karl Warkomski approached them with the idea of leasing 24 acres of AVCA park land, Joe said.

Nestled between the sweeping vistas of Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, the ranch site was the result of a hard-won battle in 2011 when the nonprofit successfully rounded up more than 1,500 delegates of AVCA to vote in favor of a 50-year lease for the property.

But the approval didn't mean they signed a lease – it only allowed the board to consider one, said Councilmember Ross Chun, former board member. In order to get an actual lease, the Sachens have been working for more than a year to prove a ranch can be built on the land. They spent around $35,000 out of pocket to do roughly $125,000 worth of environmental and legal work, Joe Sachen said.

Roger Deitos, principal with GAA Architects, one of the firms working at free or reduced rates, said the vision for the ranch is to give visitors a sanctuary from the city that bridges the hills with the coast.

“We really wanted to transform it; as soon as you entered the property it became an experience and journey,” Deitos said. “It's such a beautiful piece of land that's been vacant, and it's connected to the existing canyon down below.”

With the help of Site Design Studio, a landscaping design firm in Tustin, Deitos and others have worked to fashion a plan that integrates sustainable displays, community gardening, canyon trails and commercial farming.

Joe said he hopes that food farmed at the ranch's commercial plots could be sold at local food stores.

Bob Bunyan, a local historian and former Mission Viejo Co. executive who helped build Aliso Viejo, said those 24 acres remained relatively untouched since the community was constructed.

“It's really just raw land,” he said.

BUREAUCRATIC HURDLES

Lisa said she underestimated just how much work this all would take. And the work isn't over.

There's an actual lease that needs to be signed with AVCA, there's an approval from the city for a rezoning of the land, and then there's an approval from the state Coastal Commission, because a portion of the land lies within the coastal zone.

Warkomski said he thinks progress on the project has slowed, though those involved like Bunyan said projects of this magnitude take a long time.

“I don't think the passion is there in the decision-makers, and it really takes somebody with enough interest in the project to continually push it and give it momentum,” Warkomski said. “Without those champions on the boards, it really got stuck in the traffic.”

But the Sachens said they are resolved in creating the project.

“To have this piece of land and for people to not be able to use it, it's just a shame,” Lisa Sachen said.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.